The present invention relates to fire arms, and more particularly to the compensation of the xe2x80x9cmuzzle flipxe2x80x9d and recoil when firing.
Barrel compensators and muzzle brake systems are well known in the industry and have applications in handguns, rifles and machine guns. When we fire a firearm the gas pressure will push the bullet down the barrel at high speed.
Due to the law of action and reaction, the reaction to the bullet""s energy is the recoil. The recoil will push the gun towards the shooter""s direction with a force proportional to the caliber and velocity of the bullet. Consequently if you want to shoot larger caliber bullets, faster, you have to expect greater recoil. The muzzle brake will reduce the recoil by gradually releasing the pressure produced by the blast through small perforations at the end of the barrel. This process takes place while the bullet is still in the barrel. Because the grip of a handgun is bellow the barrel, the recoil force will torque the gun in the hand of the shooter producing xe2x80x9cmuzzle flipxe2x80x9d. The muzzle flip (the upward motion of the hand and gun after firing) slows down the shooter by increasing the time to recover and line-up the sights on the next target. Competitive sports and tactical applications use the compensating effect of releasing the gasses through ports cut in the upper end of the barrel. These ports are called compensating ports and will exhaust the gases up rather than around the barrel, which will cause a downward force on the barrel. This force will aid in keeping the barrel on target, allowing the shooter to fire at a much faster rate while increasing accuracy. The compensators that are now on the market are extensions at the end of the barrel, their effectiveness is proportional to the number of inline compensating ports, this makes the gun longer, heavier and.more difficult to handle and carry.
Representative of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,799 to Charles T. Toco that discloses a bushing style of compensator which uses the upward exhaust of gases through a tubular attachment at the end of the barrel. Also representative of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 285,235. To Vito Cellini describing a compensator that is attached to the end of the barrel, and uses upward exhaust of gases through the ports at the end of the barrel.
Also representative of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 5,698,810 to Clyde E. Rose and assigned to Browning Arms Company describing a muzzle brake, ballistic optimizer system that is attached to the end of the barrel and is used to reduce recoil in rifles and tune the frequency of vibrations in rifles for higher accuracy.
Also representative of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 417,252. To Ira M. Kay describing a compensator that is attached to the end of a rifle""s barrel, and uses upward exhaust of gases through the ports at the end of the barrel to hold the barrel down.
The prior art does not teach the compensating effect being achieved through the following three methods.
The prior art does not teach the use of a chamber to build up pressure. Also it does not teach how to use that pressure to obtain barrel compensation. (Called xe2x80x9cPressure compensationxe2x80x9d).
The prior art does not teach the use of exhaust gases to push down into a chamber attached to the barrel, therefore pushing the barrel down. (Called xe2x80x9cChamber compensationxe2x80x9d).
The prior art does not teach how to integrate classic compensation porting with xe2x80x9cpressure compensationxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cchamber compensationxe2x80x9d. Also the prior art does not teach how to integrate all three compensating features described above in a very compact package included within the original length of the barrel, i.e. no barrel extensions.
What is needed is a compact xe2x80x9cGas Trapxe2x80x9d chamber, that must be used around the end of the barrel with ports on the upper area.
What is needed is the chamber must be firmly attached to the barrel.
What is needed is the barrel must have multiple perforations in each of the four directions (up, down, left, right).
What is needed is that these perforations will be contained within at the end part of the barrel, and inside the chamber called the xe2x80x9cGas Trapxe2x80x9d.
The present invention meets these needs.
The primary aspect of the invention is to provide a compact chamber called Gas Trap around the end of the barrel
Another aspect of the invention is to provide exhaust ports to the Gas Trap chamber, oriented upwards.
Another aspect of the invention is to provide means of attaching the Gas Trap chamber to the barrel, with or without any type of barrel bushing.
Another aspect of the invention is to provide perforations (ports) in four directionsxe2x80x94up, down, left, rightxe2x80x94in the section of the barrel that is contained inside the Gas Trap chamber.
Other aspects of the invention will be pointed out, or made obvious by the following description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.
The invention is a GT (Gas Trap) Compensator. Its purpose is to maximize the barrel compensation effect in a compact, efficient and unobtrusive package. By maintaining the barrel in a horizontal position while shooting, faster rates of fire can be achieved with higher accuracy. The GT Compensator will achieve this goal by combining three distinct methods of compensating barrel recoil, into one integrated system. The Gas Trap (GT) chamber is the element that makes the integration of the three methods possible. The compensation methods are described as follows:
1. The ports placed in the barrel that are aimed upwards will vent the gases up through the ports cut in the upper part of the Gas Trap chamber. The reaction to this action will be the gases pushing the barrel down. This is the classic compensation method.
2. The ports placed in the barrel that are located down at the bottom of the barrel will exhaust gases onto the bottom of the Gas Trap Chamber. Because the Gas Trap Chamber is attached to the barrel, the down force exerted onto the GT Chamber will force the barrel down providing the second compensating action called xe2x80x9cChamber Compensationxe2x80x9d.
3. The ports located on the bottom and to the left and right side of the barrel will exhaust gases into the GT Chamber. These gases will be characterized by a pressure P1 and a velocity V1. P1 will be dependent on the pressure released by the type of ammunition used.
P1 is determined by the ammunition and caliber used.
V1 is the velocity of the gases that exhaust through the ports in the barrel, while the bullet is obstructing the end of the barrel. V1 will be determined by the maximum diameter of the ports in the barrel, allowed by the safe functioning of the gun and the number of these ports. More ports with larger diameter will reduce the gas velocity through the ports, faster. This will increase the flow of gas exhausted inside the GT Chamber. The diameter of these ports should be up to a maximum of 0.218xe2x80x3 per barrel port (for a caliber not lower than 0.38xe2x80x3 or 9 mm). The safety factor can also be increased by reaming out the rifling in the area of the barrel that has the ports.
V2 is the velocity of the gases exhausted through the ports located on the top of the GT chamber. V2 can be controlled by variations of the area of the port openings on the top of the GT Chamber.
P2 is the pressure of the gases vented through the ports in the GT chamber. P2 will be the element that will determine the efficiency of this kind of compensation system.
To explain further I should say that, very high pressure P1 will cause the exhaust gases that are available, to vent inside the GT Chamber very fast (while the bullet is still in the barrel). If the area of the GT Chamber ports is small, the flow of the exhaust gas is slow at a relative high pressure P2 and the compensating force does not have enough time to be effective. This means that sufficient pressure is still in the barrel after the bullet exits. This pressure will be released through the end of the barrel producing unwanted recoil. To maximize the compensation in this case we should open the ports of the GT chamber as much as possible so that in the short time when the bullet obstructs the end of the barrel we vent out most of the pressure through the top ports of the GT Chamber. This reduces P2 but will allow most of the gases to exhaust through the top ports of the GT chamber maximizing the compensation.
Opposite if the P1 pressure is to low, there will not be enough force (pressure) to have a strong compensating effect.
To increase the compensating force, the ports on top of the GT camber must be reduced to increase the pressure build-up P2 of the gases in the GT chamber before they are vented up. For this case the time is not a factor because of the lower velocity V1 of both the bullet and the gases.
Therefore this P2 value is to be determined for each caliber and also for each power factor of the ammunition being used. This aspect of the invention is part of the process called xe2x80x9ctuningxe2x80x9d of the compensator to the specifics of the application.
The variation of V2 by changing the opening of the GT chamber ports, will determine the amount of compensation force and will optimize P2. This will be achieved by means of increasing or decreasing the opening surface of the ports, on the upper part of the GT chamber.
The principle of operation and the xe2x80x9ctuningxe2x80x9d process is explained by the following example:
45 ACP Cal. has low operating pressures (chamber pressure) P1. To xe2x80x9ctunexe2x80x9d a 45 cal GT Compensated barrel you will keep the ports in the top of the GT Chamber smaller so that you can build P2 to higher values and maximize the efficiency. 45 ACP is a slow velocity cartridge and we need to increase the compensating force by increasing P2.
38 Super Cal. that operates at high chamber pressures p1, will be xe2x80x9ctunedxe2x80x9d by opening more, the ports in the top of the GT Chamber. By doing this, we increase the flow of the gases exhausted. The result is that we decrease P2, to effective levels for maximum compensating effect, by venting up almost all the exhaust gas, that otherwise would have generated recoil. This compensating effect is called xe2x80x9cPressure Compensationxe2x80x9d and the force down on the barrel is controlled by releasing the P2 pressure, through the surface of the GT chamber ports. The variation of that surface will have a tuning effect of the GT Compensator to the ammunition and the type of gun that is used.